DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Summary
This communication is a First Office Action Non-Final Rejection on the merits.
Claims 1 – 20 are currently pending and considered below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Di Simone et al. (Hereinafter Simone) (prior art from Applicant submitted IDS) (Control Design for an Under-Actuated UAV Model. 31 December 2018, <URL: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/1451-2092/2018/1451-20921804443D.pdf>, pgs. 443-452.).
As per claim 1, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
a method of controlling navigation of an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
providing the autonomous UAV with at least one rotor, a wind sensor, and a controller (See at least figure 1, abstract and page 443 – 444; For this reason, it was decided to develop a multibody model of a quadrotor copter in the presence of wind fields by using SimScape Multibody Environment. The quadrotor is modelled as a non-linear underactuated and strongly coupled system. For the dynamic analysis, aerodynamic effect of drag, the thrust due to the propellers and external wind fields are considered'; 'Unmanned vehicles (such as space vehicles or UAVs) are implemented full or half duplex systems to send control signals and receive telemetry signals. An onboard computer (generally with GPS navigation) connected to the aircraft control system may be used'; 'One novel aspect that is considered in this article is represented by the study of the aerodynamics of the propellers that, in general, affects the dynamic response and performance of the UAVs. It depends on the different flight conditions because it is important to include relative wind velocity and gusts'; including relative wind velocity and gusts means that a wind vector can be determined via a sensing mechanism; onboard computer forms the controller);
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estimating a thrust force at the at least one rotor, the estimation of the thrust force involving geometric properties of the at least one rotor (See at least figure 1, abstract and page 443 – 444 and 446; 'For this reason, it was decided to develop a multibody model of a quadrotor copter in the presence of wind fields by using SimScape Multi-body Environment. The quad rotor is modelled as a non-linear underactuated and strongly coupled system. For the dynamic analysis, aerodynamic effect of drag, the thrust due to the propellers and external wind fields are considered. The evaluation of the needed thrust for prescribed trajectories gives indications about the type of propellers and actuator characteristics to be installed on the UAV' … 'we present a quadcopter multi-body model developed in SimScape Multi-body Environment, that allows to build very detailed models by using 3D Cad geometries' … 'When ψ = 0 rad, the quadrotor is in vertical climb or descendent flight and the thrust coefficients ct can be evaluated by (10) ... with n is the number of blades on each propeller, c is the blade chord, a is the lift slope curve and βt is the pitch angle at the blade tip that is function of rotor geometry alone as we are considering fixed pitch rotors');
measuring wind via the wind sensor (See at least figure 1, abstract and page 443 – 444 and 446; 'For this reason, it was decided to develop a multibody model of a quadrotor copter in the presence of wind fields by using SimScape Multi-body Environment. The quad rotor is modelled as a non-linear underactuated and strongly coupled system. For the dynamic analysis, aerodynamic effect of drag, the thrust due to the propellers and external wind fields are considered. The evaluation of the needed thrust for prescribed trajectories gives indications about the type of propellers and actuator characteristics to be installed on the UAV' … 'we present a quadcopter multi-body model developed in SimScape Multi-body Environment, that allows to build very detailed models by using 3D Cad geometries' … 'When ψ = 0 rad, the quadrotor is in vertical climb or descendent flight and the thrust coefficients ct can be evaluated by (10) ... with n is the number of blades on each propeller, c is the blade chord, a is the lift slope curve and βt is the pitch angle at the blade tip that is function of rotor geometry alone as we are considering fixed pitch rotors');; and
controlling navigation of the autonomous UAV with the use of feedforward flight control at the controller and based at least in part upon the estimated thrust force and the wind measurements (See at least figure 1, abstract and page 443 – 444; For this reason, ii was decided to develop a multi body model of a quadrotor copter in the presence of wind fields by using SimScape Multi-body Environment. The quadrotor is modelled as a non-linear underactuated and strongly coupled system. For the dynamic analysis, aerodynamic effect of drag, the thrust due to the propellers and external wind fields are considered'; 'Unmanned vehicles (such as space vehicles or UAVs) are implemented full or half duplex systems to send control signals and receive telemetry signals. An onboard computer (generally with GPS navigation) connected to the aircraft control system may be used' … 'In this study, we present a quadcopter multi-body model developed in SimScape Multi-body Environment, that allows to build very detailed models by using 3D Cad geometries. … For controlling such model, an inverse dynamic analysis and a standard PIO controller have been developed. … Such study anticipates a subsequent experimental analysis to be conducted in X-Plane aircraft simulator. Inverse dynamics control. The main scope of inverse dynamics analysis and feedforward control law is to construct an inner loop control based on the motion base dynamic model which, in the ideal case, exactly linearizes the nonlinear system and an outer loop control to drive tracking errors to zero. The PIO linear controller is considered in the second part of the paper, where the effect of wind fields will be taken into account).
As per claim 2, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
estimating a rotor drag force at the at least one rotor, the estimation of the rotor drag force involving geometric properties of the at least one rotor (See at least page 443 – 445), and
controlling navigation of the autonomous UAV with the use of feedforward flight control at the controller and based at least in part upon the estimated rotor drag force, the estimated thrust force, and the wind measurements (See at least page 443 – 445).
As per claim 3, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
wherein the estimation of the thrust force is via a first physics-based mathematical model, and the estimation of the rotor drag force is via a second physics-based mathematical model (See at least page 443 – 446).
As per claim 4, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
wherein the geometric properties involved in the estimation of the thrust force comprise at least one of blade twist angle, chord distribution, chord length, number of blades, rotor hub radius, or rotor radius (See at least page 444 and 446).
As per claim 5, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
wherein estimating the thrust force involves revolutions per minute (RPM) of the plurality of rotors and involves flight state parameters of the autonomous UAV (See at least page 446 and 449).
As per claim 6, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
wherein estimating the rotor drag force involves experimental data of rotor forces (See at least page 443 – 446).
As per claim 7, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
wherein estimating the thrust force is performed onboard the autonomous UAV and amid flight of the autonomous UAV, and estimating the rotor drag force is performed onboard the autonomous UAV and amid flight of the autonomous UAV (See at least page 443 and 445).
As per claim 8, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
controlling navigation of the autonomous UAV based at least in part upon a formulated relationship between the RPM measurements and corresponding throttle input data (See at least page 443 – 446 and 449).
As per claim 9, De Simone teaches the limitations of:
wherein the formulated relationship between the RPM measurements and corresponding throttle input data involves experimental data of rotor forces See at least page 443 – 446).
Regarding claims 10 - 20:
Claims 10 – 20 are rejected using the same rationale, mutatis mutandis, applied to claims 1 – 9 above, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Melmoth et al. (US 2025/0130596 A1) discloses system and method for tilt dead reckoning.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IG T AN whose telephone number is (571)270-5110. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 10:00AM- 4:00PM.
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IG T AN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/IG T AN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
